非専門家の問いの特徴は何か? それは専門家の眼にどう映るか?

概要

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Questions raised by lay persons in relation with the Universe were investigated to clarify what they want to know and which aspects of the questions tend to embarrass experts trying to answer them. The seventy percent of questions are about the whole Universe or celestial bodies. In terms of the whole Universe, the beginning, the end, the edge, and the difference from everyday space are the frequently asked. Throughout the raised questions, the mechanisms, origins, and futures are featured rather than definitions or status. Experts are confused when they find questions unexpected or hard to answer. The unexpected questions are based on everyday experiences or misunderstandings, and the questioners point out contradictions among the information through logical extrapolation. The hard questions are with less considerations on whether they are answerable by science. Some of them are neglecting how science is done or what does science target for, while the others are scientific but difficult to answer with the current status of science. The results imply that embarrassing questions from lay persons are the important opportunities to deepen the two-way science communication.